A Heideggerian Phenomenological Perspective on the Concept of Person… Reception Theory

LEONARD, V.W. (1994) A Heideggerian Phenomenological Perspective on the Concept of Person. In: P. BENNER (Ed.), Interpretive Phenomenology: Embodiment, Caring, and Ethics in Heath and Illness. Sage Publications, Inc. pp43-64

“Heidegger claims that these interpretations are not generated in individual consciousness as subjects related to objects but rather are given in our linguistic and cultural traditions and make sense only against a background of significance. (…) Nothing can be encountered independent of our basic understanding. Every encounter is an interpretation based on our background.” (p52)

Annotation:
Barbatsis (2005) has used reception theory to arrive at a similar point as Leonard does referencing instead Heidegger. The context in which the experience is held only begins to make sense within the background of the person experiencing it. As Barbatsis states the meaning comes from understanding and interpreting the parts and whole of an experience from within the self. It is not in the object being experienced as Heidegger states. What Leonard adds to this is to give a concise appraisal, “Every encounter is an interpretation based on our background.” (p52) 

Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Visual Communication… A Visual Communication Phenomenological Methodology

BARBATSIS, G. (2002) Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Visual Communication. Journal of Visual Literacy, 22(1), pp1-18

“The dialogue, which takes place between makers and beholders absent to each other, is an achievement of encoding and decoding. Phenomenological understandings of visual communication illuminate, in the terms of dialogue, how this meaning-making work in the separate domains of production and reception is done.” (p7)

Annotation
How a phenomenological understanding of meaning-making in a dyadic relationship between human and computer can be revealed by visual communication, calls for a methodology. I am proposing such a methodology in the form of a Visual Communication Phenomenological Methodology. 

Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Visual Communication… Contingency

BARBATSIS, G. (2002) Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Visual Communication. Journal of Visual Literacy, 22(1), pp1-18 

“Phenomenology characterizes the communication process as a dyadic relationship of interaction that arises from and is constituted by contingency. The idea of contingency means that this relationship is one of two partners involved in a process going on between them. The ‘field of experience’ for each of the partners in an interaction includes one's direct view of oneself and one's direct view of the other as well as one's meta perspective of the other's view of oneself. (…) The contingency out of which interaction arises is created by behavioral plans that do not coincide and the inability of people to experience how others experience them. This means, as Iser (1978) explains, that the process of interaction is made up of the 'tactical and strategic interpretations' of each partner about the other, and in the testing of the interpretations, the production of 'adjustments.'” (pp4-5)

Annotation:
The dyadic relationship that happens within visual communication in print varies in interface design. The contingency in the relationship is based on the lack of true knowledge of what will happen next in an interface interaction, beyond an expectation. If the visual communication is thought through then the expected outcome should be achieved. The main relationship in this form of interaction is a human-computer interaction. Whereas the computer has a finite amount of programmed responses depending on the context of the next interaction, the human is a sentient emotional being. So any "tactical and strategic interpretations" (p5) will be restricted. The expectations of the computer system will be programmed but the human will not be. So how would visual communication help a designer and developer understand the user’s perspective to the context of any interaction they need to design a contingency for? Phenomenology offers a way to do that. 

Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Visual Communication… Dyadic Process

BARBATSIS, G. (2002) Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Visual Communication. Journal of Visual Literacy, 22(1), pp1-18

“This interest in understanding how meaning is made further delineates points of consideration for theorizing visual communication phenomenologically. One consideration, with a basis in the phenomenological understanding of a communication relationship, has to do with how the dyadic process is achieved in a technologically mediated encounter.” (p4) 


Annotation:

A dyadic process is a relationship transaction between speaking and contemplating/listening. This interaction based on communication and feedback, maps to an interactive model. How visual communication aids meaning-making through interpretation leading to the user understanding what they can do next, can be revealed through a phenomenological methodology.